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It’s disheartening to watch any American small businesses fall by the wayside as corporate conglomerates continue to expand and dominate both rural and metropolitan America. The angst is amplified, however, when a living piece of our American tradition falls to such a fate.
One of the country’s oldest small businesses, D. Landreth Seed Company, an heirloom seed company founded in 1784, and one of the only American companies still operating daily that existed at the moment of this nation’s founding, faces such a fate.
Landreth preserves our horticultural traditions by offering for sale heirloom seed varieties not often found in a market flooded by genetically modified alternatives. In fact, a slew of heirloom varieties wouldn’t still exist if not for Landreth’s preservation efforts. Today, the company still sells over 900 heirloom seed varieties.
But bad luck and hard times are now threatening this piece of American heritage. A Maryland court has ordered the Sharon Springs, New York, based company to repay immediately a single creditor at the expense of the business’s sustainability. Although Landreth sought an attempt to extend the time for repayment by several years in order to satisfy the debt, the company’s request has been refused. If the court’s order is not satisfied within 30 days, Landreth will cease to exist and a part of America’s history will be lost forever.
You Can Help Save Landreth
But you can help. Like so many businesses that survived previous recessions and depressions, Landreth sells their seeds through mail order catalogs. Landreth must sell 1 million catalogues to continue their daily operations.
Each seed catalog features Landreth’s extensive heirloom seed selections and sells for a mere $5.
Buy a $5 catalog, help save America’s oldest still operating small business, and preserve a rare repository of American heirloom seeds.
Buy a Landreth Catalog
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